A black conservative's place for independent thinking and common sense -- A little oasis for those who got caught up in the momentum of the civil rights movement, but failed to discern the false from the true

Friday, May 30, 2008

Speaking of American citizens voting by race, in 2006, in New York City, all hell broke loose when black Congressman Major Owens announced he would not run for another term in the House of Representatives. Owens had represented Brooklyn's 11th District for two decades. His unexpected retirement sent the black political machine into a frenzy, as meetings were quickly called to plan strategies that would insure another black's ascendance to Owens' seat. And when white City Councilman David Yassky declared his candidacy for the post, calls for ethnic solidarity began in earnest. Prominent blacks worked to galvanize support for the black candidates who had stepped into the ring, and made no bones about the fact that they were determined to prevent a white from obtaining Owens' seat. Blacks, of course, were allowed to be outright in their disdain for the white Yassky, as the New York Times' headlines matter-of-factly blared, "Black Leaders Fear the Loss of a House Seat." (In today's Times, is it likely that we might see the headline: White Leaders Fear the Loss of the Presidency?)

In Brooklyn, black apologists justified their blatant bias on the basis of the 58% majority of blacks in the 11th district, compared to 21% white. One wonders if, in today's voting climate, votes for the U.S. Presidency also can be justified on this basis, with the country's majority population still around 72% white. Majority rules?

David Yassky, who had maintained a decent record as a fair legislator, was vilified as being fueled by "ambition and opportunism." Because Shirley Chisholm had first won the seat in 1969, the district was viewed as having "historical" significance to blacks and, therefore, should be held only by blacks. The pandering Times actually spoke of the "emotional importance" of keeping blacks at the helm.

It was more than inferred that somehow the Voting Rights Act itself was under attack by the very candidacy of the white Yassky. It was kind of amusing to hear people like Rev. Karim Camara suggest that Yassky should not run himself, but should consider how he might earn "a place of higher esteem," if he agreed to support a black candidate. Oh, have the decency to quit, Yassky!

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Loss of the Issues & Views website

Due to the fact that the owners of the company that has hosted Issues & Views - The Website, since its creation in 1997, have decided to host only sites in Alaska, the website linked to this blog is probably lost.

Issues & Views - The Website (www.issues-views.com) contained hundreds of articles first printed in the hard copy Issues & Views newsletter (1983 through 2002), along with newer articles composed in the 1990s.

Although the former host has re-directed clicks to the website to this blog, it does not appear that there will be any rescue of the website's files or database. For this reason, surfers looking for issues-views.com are landing on this blog. (The website is currently being cached by Google.)

I have learned that an archived version of the website is available on Wayback Machine. Unfortunately, this last capture was performed in 2008, so it lacks certain minor deletions and editing done in 2009 and 2010. However, anyone searching for a particular article should be able to find it there.

- Elizabeth (issues@issues.cnc.net)

Racism is not "sin"

Over the years, as whites have worked to defend themselves against the charge of "racism," they have validated this slur by giving it greater importance than it deserves, and thereby helped to institutionalize it as the world's greatest "sin." As to genuine sin, harboring negative thoughts concerning some group is much further down the list of human deficiencies than bombing Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Dresden and Hamburg, or hacking to death with machetes the men, women and children of an enemy tribe. Now, those are sins! Seeking to force "diversity" down the throats of an unreceptive segment of society is the religious mission of rabid, agenda-driven ideologues. None of this apparent concern for "social justice" has ever been about virtue. It's about power.

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Jacobs and Potter on the un-American nature of "hate crime" legislation.